Japan Prime Minister Kan’s Nuclear Adviser Resigns

A senior nuclear adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan submitted his resignation on Friday, saying the government had ignored his advice and failed to follow the law.

Toshiso Kosako, a Tokyo University professor who was named last month as an advisor to Kan, said the government had only taken ad hoc measures to contain the crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

In a tearful press conference, he said the government and its commissions had taken "flexible approaches" to existing laws and regulations, and ignored his advice after he was named an advisor on March 16.

"I cannot help but to think the prime ministers office and other agencies are only taking stopgap measures… and delaying the end" of the nuclear crisis, he told reporters.